So "informed rumour" has it that the Government of PEI may once again be considering placing a cap on child care spaces or a freeze on any new child care licenses as part of the anticipated announcements that are coming related to the early learning sector.  Why am I not surprised?  This idea seems to keep resurfacing as though it is the answer that is going to save the child care and early learning sector on PEI. Being an Early Childhood Educator myself I do agree that there are a great many changes that are happening in the sector that are serious.  Yes, it is a challenging time – HOWEVER – let me once again spell out why placing a freeze on new spaces is not the answer:

While there are many programs on the Island that offer high
quality services to families and children, the truth is that there are
also some who are not of this standard.  In the areas where this exists
– and if these are the only
programs in that community – it means that families virtually have no
other child care choice.  If they require child care to work or attend
school they are faced with having to "settle" for what is available.  
By placing a cap on spaces, PEI will be protecting programs that may be
of a lesser quality. Unfortunately, there is no easy or politically
correct way
to state this, but it is the reality.  By protecting all programs,
there will be virtually no incentive for programs to
improve or enhance their offerings. Why would they need to?  It is not
like there will be any new competition coming into the area for parents
to make comparisons to.  With all that we know
about the importance of the Early Years, creating a system that
actually protects marginal quality early learning environments is NOT
appropriate nor acceptable. Simply put, this is not in the best
interests of children or families.  We must do all that we can to
ensure that ALL Island children have
access to high quality early learning experiences in all Island
communities.  This is critical to
ensure school readiness and the ability for children to meet the
necessary learning outcomes later in life. Further, if no new programs
are allowed to come into an area then parental choice will eventually
become much more limited than it already is. This is not a good thing
either.  Child care, as it stands today, is a market based system and
it would not be appropriate for the government to start limiting where
or when new services can be created or opened.

It is critical that Prince Edward Island look at the much larger
picture of how the Early Years are being addressed and supported
overall.  PEI needs an Island wide Early Years Strategy.  I have
written about this multiple times.  Let's be clear, there is much work
to be done to ensure that young children and their families have access
to all of the necessary supports and services that they need as their
children grow – this includes access to high quality, affordable child
care.

Government
energies would be better spent implementing ways to improve program
quality levels, attracting more qualified early childhood educators to
the Island, reaching out to families whose children are not in licensed
child care programs and by ensuring that all Island children have
access to a full range of early learning opportunities and services
BEFORE they reach the public school system.   These things would
accomplish far more than would placing a cap on new child care spaces
and program openings.

Here is some further history on this issue – which has been an ongoing challenge for several years now.

You may recall the recent posts on this blog regarding the issue of capping child care spaces on Prince Edward Island.  In one of these posts I noted:

"So – let's just be clear on something here – placing a cap on
the number of
child care centres will protect child care operators NOT children. 
Placing a cap on spaces is only about the needs of operators – it is
NOT about the needs of children and families.  Placing a cap on spaces
is absolutely NOT the way to enhance the level of quality of early
learning environments on PEI."

After Parent's for Choice and Quality wrote letters to the editors of several Island papers we were contacted by Stephen Brun who writes for the Eastern Graphic. 
He was interested in our concerns related to capping spaces.  Last week
he wrote a follow-up article about all of this.  I have placed a copy
of the article below. You will note that one of the quoted child care
operator feels that Parent's for Choice and Quality is somewhat
uninformed about what is involved with operating Island child care
facilities.

I
feel that it is important to state that as President of Parents for
Choice and Quality, I am clearly aware of the great many concerns and
challenges that Island child care operators are facing. The provision
of child care and early learning  programs is both challenging and
complex. I do truly believe that there are many Operators who do all
that they can to help children and families.  They care – I understand
that and I admire them for that. It is important to note that I,
myself, have been an Operator and Supervisor of child care on Prince
Edward Island.  Given this, I have a full understanding of what it
means when a program is not filled to capacity and how this can place
services at risk.  Despite knowing all of this, I still feel that placing a cap on the number of spaces available on the Island is not the answer. 

Below is a copy of the story that ran in Eastern Graphic in March 2009 on this issue.

From Eastern
Graphic – March 18, 2009

Capping
daycare spaces not the answer, group says

By Stephen
Brun

Placing a
limit on the number of daycare centres that can open in the province could
hinder the quality of care children receive, says a group representing some
parents. Jane Boyd and April Ennis, directors of Parents for Choice and
Quality, responded to a February 25 story in The Eastern Graphic which included
some daycare operators in eastern Kings County calling on government to cap the
number of centres that could open in a given area based on low enrollment
numbers.

Ms Boyd said
better steps need to be taken to ensure high-quality programming, rather than
limiting a parent’s choice of daycare centres.

“If we
reduce the number of centres, we reduce quality levels and we reduce parent
choice,” she said. “I understand the concerns operators have and I’m very clear
on what the issues are, but it’s like a pendulum – it can swing one way or the
other. These are private service providers so, when it comes to legislated
caps, there’s probably a line the legislation shouldn’t cross.”

Parents for
Choice and Quality was created in February 2008 when the Province attempted to
change legislation to cap child care space on the Island.

Part of a
letter to the editor from the group, published in the March 4 Graphic, states: “To
suggest that the government should change the legislation to allow for a cap on
the number of child care spaces and centres in a given area is purely about the
needs of the operators and is not about the needs of the children and families…it
is absolutely not the way to enhance the quality level of early learning environments
on PEI”.

Norma Brown,
owner of Child’s Play daycare in Fortune, who was one of the operators to call
for a cap, said the group’s assumption that the workers are protecting
themselves is false.

“Those
people really don’t know how much we go out of our way to help parents and
children, “ Ms Brown said. “I guess what we’re saying is, walk a mile in our
shoes. If I was the only centre in the this area, then it wouldn’t be an issue.
If there gets to be centres where there aren’t enough kids and they all close,
what choice to parents have then?”

Child’s Play
is one of six daycares operating in roughly a 30-mile radius in Eastern Kings,
including centres in Cardigan, Souris, St Peters, and Howe Bay.

Ms. Brown
and other operators in the area also called for increased subsidies so parents
could better afford to send their children to daycare, but feels a cap should
have been put in place two years ago.

“I’ve been
here 18 years and there is nothing I haven’t seen, but there are more daycares
than there ever was in this area,” she said. “It’s not that we have a problem
with the other centres, but it would be the same as opening another fish plant
in Souris. The one that’s there is hanging on by the skin of its teeth as it
is.”

While Ms
Boyd agrees better subsidies are needed for parents, she said the Province
would be better suited to ensure new daycares meet a higher standard of quality
before they become licensed than the current standard. She said some members on
the childcare board, who approve licence requests on PEI, are daycare operators
themselves and could be in a conflict of interest.

“I’m not
arguing and saying it’s all perfect, because clearly it’s not,” she said. “There
is quite a difference in the degree of quality across the Island. It’s a pretty
baseline level (of acceptance) on PEI. With high quality programs, parents will
come to those and parents will drive distances for those.”